Blake Wood

Blake Wood (1833-1873) was an American outlaw of the Wild West. He escaped execution in 1873 due to a Comanche raid interrupting his hanging, but he was later recaptured, charged with cattle rustling, and hanged.

Biography
Blake Wood was born in 1833, and he settled in New Mexico and became a Wild West gunslinger. In 1873, he rode to the rural First National Bank & Trust of Tucumcari in rural Hanmam County, and he attempted to rob teller Lyle Hughes. He survived Hughes' shotgun trap and stole large numbers of bills before attempting to flee. However, Hughes charged at him while wearing armor made of pots and pans, and he konkced out Wood with the butt of his scattergun. Lawman Douglas R. Johnson held a trial for the unconscious Wood, who was sentenced to death for attempted bank robbery. The posse took Wood to a tree and put a noose around his neck as he sat atop his horse, but the execution was interrupted when a Comanche war party massacred the lawmen and left Wood for dead atop his horse, the noose still around his neck. He was rescued by the drover Tyler Hutchison, who had him help bring his cattle into town as repayment for his help. However, Hutchison fled as lawmen approached, and Wood was left behind to be arrested for rustling. Wood was taken to Judge William Hobby, who summarily sentenced Wood to hang for his crimes. Wood was hanged with three other criminals, and his last sight was that of Cora Morton; his last words were, "Now there's a pretty girl." The four men's bodies were interred at the site of Clay Griswald's old ranch, which the state had bought as a burial ground for those too disgraced to be buried in town.